Mortaine’s Blog

Anyone surprised? Nope? Good.

I come from a journalism family. My grandparents were journalists, my uncles were journalists, and a deep and pervasive understanding of what makes for good reporting was instilled in me and my sister at a fairly early age. I took journalism in high school and learned what I didn’t want to do with my writing life.

I have to say, the level of what passes for journalism these days is revolting. Re. Volt. Ing. It makes me sick. It makes me scream. Ask me sometime about dogs on the radio– you’ll get an earful.

To claim that journalism has a left bias is ludicrous.

The Jeff Gannon scandal, combined with all the other “we’ll say anything if you pay us enough” so-called journalists is far, far worse than Dan Rather getting a little overambitious with a single conservative news source.

I will not go so far as to say that journalism has a right-leaning bias, but rather that anyone who has “access” in Washington is either right-wing, paid off, or both.

And don’t say “that’s as it should be.” The President is a PUBLIC FUCKING SERVANT and needs to get the fuck over himself and realize he’s here to serve. Not. Rule.

I would say that journalism has a fluff bias, preferring the easy story to the real one, avoiding actual research and thinking “spokesmen for X did not return our calls” counts as “follow up.”

And I’m sure I have more to say on this subject. Mostly, though, I want to see people go to jail for this kind of crap.

OK, while I must admit that the people one encounters through Freecycling can be… shall we say “bottom of the barrel”? The site and its purpose is great for those who are:

Seeking stuff that they need or want
Seeking some way to get rid of stuff they no longer want.

So, for example, I have a bread machine that I no longer use. I can list it on my local Freecycle Yahoo! group and arrange to have someone pick it up at my house, or meet somewhere to drop it off.

Similarly, I can post asking for something I want or need, like raw wool or fabric dyes.

If you’re looking for something that you need, a textbook, clothing in your size, shoes (I think I have a bag for still), a piece of camping gear, whatever, join your local freecycle group and ask. You never know when someone like me or is divesting stuff.

Similarly, if you’re decluttering your life…. what better way to get rid of a bunch of stuff you don’t want?